Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has demanded the immediate release of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, warning that his life is in “imminent danger” in Israeli custody.
The UK-based medical charity issued the appeal after a lawyer visited Dr Abu Safiya on 2 July 2026 at the Rakefet facility in Nitzan Prison. According to lawyer Nasser Odeh, Dr Abu Safiya showed signs of severe physical deterioration, including visible injuries, extreme weakness, breathing difficulties and psychological distress. He appeared at times close to losing consciousness and feared that he would not survive detention.
Dr Abu Safiya has been detained by Israeli authorities since 27 December 2024 without charge or trial under the Unlawful Combatants Law. Israel uses this discriminatory law to hold Palestinians from Gaza for prolonged periods without ordinary criminal due process and legal safeguards. His latest detention order was upheld in June 2026 despite the absence of any public evidence against him.
Steve Cutts, MAP’s CEO, warned that the doctor was being “beaten to the point of collapse” and said the UK government must act before it is too late.
“He has been charged with no crime; he simply treated patients,” Cutts said. “That seems to be a capital offence in the eyes of an occupying power that has killed more than 1,700 healthcare workers and destroyed Gaza’s healthcare system during 1,000 days of genocide.”
“If Dr Abu Safiya dies in that cell, it will be murder, and everyone who had the power to stop it and did nothing will be complicit. The UK Government has the tools to act. It must use them now, before it is too late,” Cutts added.
READ: Israel places detained Gaza hospital director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya in solitary confinement
Israel detained Dr Abu Safiya after its forces raided Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza, in December 2024. The hospital had been under siege and continued operating despite severe shortages of fuel, medicine and staff. Israeli courts later extended his detention without filing charges, even as rights groups warned that he faced harsh prison conditions, denial of medical care and reported abuse.
The latest warning over his condition follows earlier reports that he had been placed in solitary confinement and deprived of necessary medical treatment. His lawyer said he remained held under harsh conditions, while rights groups said he had suffered severe weight loss, skin infections and medical neglect.
MAP said Dr Abu Safiya’s case forms part of a wider, well-documented pattern in which Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody face systematic ill-treatment and torture, including severe beatings, stress positions and denial of medical care.
The UN Human Rights Office said in September 2025 that it had documented or received credible evidence of Israeli authorities subjecting Palestinian detainees to repeated beatings, waterboarding, stress positions, sexual violence, starvation, denial of hygiene and denial of medical care. It said these practices may amount to war crimes and, in some circumstances, crimes against humanity.
Dr Abu Safiya is one of dozens of Palestinian healthcare workers who remain arbitrarily detained by Israeli authorities. MAP said that since October 2023, at least 612 healthcare workers have been detained across Gaza and the West Bank, and at least five have reportedly died while detained.
The detention and alleged torture of medical personnel has drawn repeated condemnation from UN experts, human rights organisations and medical groups. UN experts previously called for Dr Abu Safiya’s immediate release, saying he had been subjected to torture and other cruel and degrading treatment, and warning that his health condition was “dire”.
READ: Israeli court extends detention of Gaza hospital director Abu Safiya ‘without charges’
